News Watch: Too Young to Love?

A rather interesting case popped up in the news today regarding underaged sex and marriage. For reference, the article can be viewed here; http://tinyurl.com/rcas46

The case relates to a boy and girl who met each other when they were 16 and 12 respectively. They fell in love and were married through Aboriginal customs. A judge, and their families supported the marriage and acknowledged that the couple were in love. The girl was later impregnated when she was 14, and the boy was 18. Now this is when the sirens start going off... it is common knowledge that the age of consent in Australia is 16 (generally speaking). Aboriginal culture does not have an age of consent... this results in a clash between 2 different laws/customs. Not only that... but the age requirement to marry in Australia is 18, or 16 with parental consent and permission from the court. So the boy was 16, parents from both parties consented, a judge acknowledged them, but the girl was not 16. Again a clash in laws/customs.

Personally I feel this topic is a bit....brain-washed. We are raised to believe that underaged sex is wrong, and that you shouldn't get married before certain ages. The laws are in place to protect young people from being deceived or taken advantage of by another person... thats fine and all. However it doesn't take into account whether a person has genuinely fallen in love with the other person. Say in this particular case... when people read something like 'a 16 year old boy and a 12 year old girl fell in love and got married, and they had a child when he was 18 and she was 14'... the general reaction would be 'omg, what a pedophile'. It seems to me that people can not perceive that someone could fall in love with another person who isn't even a teenager yet, and they also can not perceive that a girl that young is capable of falling in love.

As a result of this clash of laws, the boy has had to spend time in jail and had to plead guilty to a 'crime'. It just seems so odd to me that the point of having court cases was to take into account all relevant factors before a decision is made about what the outcome will be. As mentioned before... the parents from both sides had acknowledged the relationship, and they'd obviously knew that with the marriage... sex would follow. So if the parents were ok with it, why should other people have to butt in and ruin their happiness.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all underaged sex is fine... theres a fine line between a young person who is in love with another, as opposed to a young person who is preyed upon by an older person. I just think people should not be closed minded about the subject and automatically judge people based on whats apparently the 'norm'... whether its the courts, or the general public.

On the topic of norms... similar reactions occur when there is news about other cultures that have their own norms... which would obviously differ to 'whitefella' norms. For example, some countries allow polygamous relationships... whereas it is considered wrong in other countries... and really, who is to say it is right or wrong? I feel its the same for many things, including this topic of age of consent. If there was really a right answer, then every country would have the same age of consent, marriage rules, legal drinking age, and other things. I find that the age of consent issue is a very difficult area... do people magically become capable of deciding for themselves whether they're ready for sex once their 16th birthday arrives? it could be argued that teenagers are no less informed when they're 15, or no more informed when they're 17. In my opinion there needs to be more room on the individual level... because not everyone is the same, and I don't feel its fair that the law automatically will veto the opinion of an underaged person just because the law deems that he/she does not have the capacity to make their own decision.

However on a side note regarding the case, it does make it hard if people are governed by 2 different laws or customs, so perhaps thats something that should be fixed as well. Perhaps this case might open a few eyes.